b'PRESIDENTS MESSAGESUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS M artin Luther King once said thatThe Economist with me recently that put the whatever affects one directly,current spot cost of shipping a 40-foot container affects all indirectly. He wasntfrom China at upwards of US$25,000. That talking about supply chain issues, ofsame container in pre-pandemic 2019 could be course, but he might as well have been becauseprocured for $2,500, which more often than not the impact of the spreading Delta variant isis the figure carried in the project budget. Who having a catastrophic effect on the globalbears that cost in a design-bid-build model and supply chain in ways none of us ever imaginedwhat of the resources and related costs from was possible. More to the point, U.S. Presidentseaport to site, which we all know canBiden deciding to open American ports 24/7be considerable?to expedite the 250,000 containers already stranded on docks will have little effect on the plethora of procurement issues disrupting the global supply chain. IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR, The burning questions we should be asking are what are we going to do to overcome the disruption, and will we see supply chainWE NEED TO PUT RESOURCES TO normalcy any time soon? Joe Dunlop, the global head of the supply chain advisory at CBRE, says: The analogy (for the supply chainTHE TASK TO UNCOVER HIDDEN issues) would be the boa constrictor that ate the mouse. Theres a lump and it moves along inTHREATS AND BRING IN SUBJECT the throughput of the supply chain each time we solve a constraint. Theoretically, overcoming the mountain ofMATTER EXPERTS TO RESOLVE issues is possible notwithstanding the scale of the problem with laser focus and improvedCONSTRAINTS SYSTEMATICALLYprocurement agility. The key word here is theoretically because it all comes at a cost that may not be reimbursable. In the construction sector, we need to put resources to the task to uncover hidden threats and bringReasonable clients, presuming for the in subject matter experts to resolve constraintsmoment they have the economic wherewithal systematically. The concept isnt new, but theto be reasonable, work collaboratively with volume and complexity of the constraints are offconstructors to identify risks and resolve supply the charts. So too is the cost. chain challenges equitably. Sadly, the good Lets take shipping as an example. Our TCAones are few and far between. Building product chair, Jeff Murva, shared an article from manufacturers that have historically honoured 6Quarter 32021 BUILDERSDIGEST'